First music videos

The Big Bopper (USA, b. Jiles Perry Richardson, 1930–59) is credited with producing the first examples of a "music video", a term he coined in a printed interview with the editor of Rockin' 50s magazine in 1959. The Texan musician, who perished alongside Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens on "The Day the Music Died" (3 February 1959), is said to have recorded the videos for "Chantilly Lace", "Big Bopper's Wedding" and "Little Red Riding Hood" in a single day in 1958. Ricky Nelson's "Travelin' Man" (1961) was considered to be the first music video before The Big Bopper's 1958 videos were discovered.

Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock" (first released in 1954) was later accompanied by promotional footage from the musical film of the same name (released in 1956) but was not made specifically for the single and has therefore been discounted.

According to Bill Griggs (1941-2011), former editor of Rockin' 50s magazine, The Big Bopper was convinced that video was the "wave of the future" and, at the time of his death [in 1959], he was preparing to start production on music videos for TV and a specially designed jukebox that would play videos.